


King and the Lionheart

by chloefrazerr



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Angst, But I wanted to have the mother and son send off be much better than blowing your kid up, Character Death, Other, just plain sad, railroad ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-21
Updated: 2018-03-21
Packaged: 2019-04-05 08:30:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14040273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chloefrazerr/pseuds/chloefrazerr
Summary: “Why did you bring me here, Mother?”“I… I didn’t want you to die in that explosion, I’m not killing my own child,” She told him, but her words only ceased in making him more furious, his nose curling upwards much like her own when she was blinded by rage.“You may as well have,"





	King and the Lionheart

**Author's Note:**

> So I played the Railroad ending for the first time today (I always pick the Institute), I had a meltdown and wrote this to cope. Plus, I love Shaun, he deserves more.

A flash of white blinded her once she stepped into the Molecular Relay, her hands outstretched as she tried to hold her sons hand even though she knew she couldn’t as they teleported. Her feet hit solid ground soon after, the white fading as she came to stare a pink sky that overlooked Sanctuary. Eliana blinked, gaze flickering to the ground as she came to stare at the lift leading to Vault 111.

Before she had a chance to think about the irony of the situation, Shaun materialised before her, face pale and body swaying. He quickly lost his balance, tipping forward and she caught him easily, wrapping an arm around his waist, the other draping across his shoulders. He was placing all his weight onto her and she wasn’t strong enough to hold them both up, so she chose to lower them down to the ground. Shaun gave a cry of pain as she did so, and tears pricked in her eyes, her vision quickly becoming blurry, but she kept them in. After all, a mother had to be strong for her son.

When she lowered them both to the floor, she made sure that Shaun was resting against her, his back leaning into the crook of her arm, his legs outstretched. Eliana glanced down at him, surprised to find him glaring up at her and her tears came back in full force.

“Why did you bring me here, Mother?” His voice was full of venom.

“I… I didn’t want you to die in that explosion, I’m not killing my own child,” She told him, but her words only ceased in making him more furious, his nose curling upwards much like her own when she was blinded by rage.

“You may as well have, you’ve destroyed my life’s work, everything I’ve ever loved because you have the sick fantasy in your head that synths need saving,”

Eliana recoiled at his harsh words, a tear slipping down her cheek, feeling like roles were reversed in that she was the child here. God, she knew he was right, he had been right the moment he had started talking about the Institute being the best hope for humanity. But she was stuck on the idea that synths needed freedom, that they deserved to be human just like everyone else it blinded her to what mattered most. The former war pilot stared down at her son, realising that he was the most important thing in the world and she had failed to see that until now. Regardless, it was too late to change her mind, so she held onto her son, knowing that he probably didn’t have that long left. She let out a shaky breath, a sob coming out of her throat, her head bowing as she rested her forehead on her son’s chest that rose with shallow breaths.

Sixty years.

She had lost sixty years of his life while she had been frozen.

Sixty years he’d spent building a new age, something that he put all his love and affection into.

She had seen how proud he had been of his work. In the way he flaunted his hands everywhere to the goofy grin that he tried to hide that reminded her of her love long ago.

And she’d destroyed it.

A hand came to rest on her head and she drew back abruptly, finding Shaun’s face devoid of anger, replaced with sorrow and heartbreak, a single tear slipping down his cheek. Eliana caught the tear with the pad of her thumb as she cupped his cheek with her free hand.

“I suppose it doesn’t matter now,” He told her, voice full of defeat.

His left hand came up to grasp the hand holding onto his cheeks, wrapping it around her fingers and guiding their joined hands to rest on the centre of his chest. Underneath, she could feel his heartbeat, slow, almost too slow and she felt the motion of his chest lifting in shallow breaths. His chest sputtered as he began to cough violently. Eliana’s eyes widened, lifting his back in hopes to support him but it didn’t do much. Instead, she held him tightly until the coughs subsided and his lips were stained red.

“I love you, Shaun and I’m so very glad I found you again, you’re my world, you know that?” Her voice was laced with desperation.

Shaun stared into her matching amber eyes, his full of acceptance and hers full of regret and he smiled ruefully.

“I know, I’m glad I got to meet you, despite all that happened,”

Unable to form words, she lent down and pressed a soft kiss on his forehead, much like she had done the few moments he had been born. When she drew away, his eyes glimmered with fresh tears and they fell into a comfortable silence. She looked away for a brief second as light greeted her eyes in the form of the rising sun and she smiled at its beauty.

“Have you ever seen a sunrise Shaun?” She wondered.

There was a beat where she didn’t receive a reply.

“Shaun?” She prompted.

However, when she glanced down, she discovered that his eyes were closed, his face appearing more peaceful than she had ever seen it.

It was then when she realised that the hand holding hers had gone limp, his chest had stopped rising and his heart no longer beating.

An anguished sob left her throat as she collected his limp body into her arms, tucking his head into her shoulder, trying to bring him as close to her as she could. She buried her face into his hair, her body quaking, murmuring incomprehensible words.

From the top of Vault 111, the cries of a mother holding her lost son echoed across the Valley, but such sounds were hidden as the deafening explosion of the Institute’s destruction was heard all across the Commonwealth.


End file.
